‘Breach of Trust’ Tells Ripped-from-the-Headlines Tale of Government Corruption and Intrigue

An intrepid attorney (with nothing left to lose after the deaths of his wife and daughter) scales the state government ladder to solve the murder of a potential witness and expose the corruption that leads all the way to the governor’s mansion.

That is the plot of Breach of Trust, one of the three finalists for the 2012 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. ABA Journal web producer Lee Rawles spoke with author David Ellis about the real-life influences behind the novel: his own experience with the impeachment trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Ellis also speaks about what To Kill a Mockingbird has meant to him, and how he feels about being a finalist for the Harper Lee Prize.

The reader’s choice poll will be open until July 8. The winner of the 2012 Harper Lee Prize will be announced in August.

Reviews:

Library Journal: “Fiction Reviews, January 2011”

Kirkus Reviews: “Breach of Trust, by David Ellis”

Listen to the Podcast

In This Podcast:

Lee Rawles
David Ellis is a lawyer and award-winning author of eight novels, including Line of Vision, which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel. He prosecuted and convicted Governor Rod Blagojevich in the Impeachment trial before the Illinois Senate, and served as Special Counsel to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. Dave currently lives near Chicago with his wife Susan, their children Abigail, Julia, and Jonathan, and their pug, Otis. The third Jason Kolarich book, The Wrong Man, will be released on June 28.